Baby Sleep Gear
Ok, we all know that getting a good nights sleep is one of the most - if not THE most -important things for new parents and for baby. We tried a few different tactics during Baby Bott’s first few weeks and we finally found a combination of things that works for us!
Remy started sleeping really great stretches through the night at around 3 weeks old. He would sleep from 9:30 pm - 3:30 or 4:00 am. That’s a 6 - 7 hour stretch. He would wake to feed and then go back to sleep until about 7:00 am. We were super happy with that. Now - at over two months old - he sleeps from 9:30 pm - 5:00 am. I give him the pacifier and he falls asleep again until 7:00 am and then we feed. Again, I am very happy with his sleep pattern right now. I don’t feel overly tired in the mornings and we get a little alone time at night after he goes to bed.
He loves his sleep sack!
Here is what we use for our sleep routine. I suggest sticking with a combination that you think will work and keep at it for a week or so before trying something else. To this day, we aren’t sure whether it is the sleep sack, the sound machine, his bed time…or a combination of it all…that makes him sleep so well. But we know it works! That is, until he goes through a sleep regression, starts teething, etc. But hey, I’ll take every small win I can get as a new parent :)
Our Sleep Routine: Newborn - Two Months
NOTE: The baby has been sleeping in a bassinet next to our bed since Day 1. Since he is sleeping so well and I am feeling more comfortable, we will likely transition him to his own nursery soon!
Between 9:00 - 9:30 pm I go to our room and feed him for about 20 minutes.
All of the lights are off, except for his Hatch Baby night light.
The Hatch Baby white noise sound is on LOUD (they say the volume should be loud enough you can hear it through a shut door).
After 20 minutes (or when he seems full / falling asleep), we put his Owlet sock on.
Next is one last diaper change. We have tried doing this before we start the feeding, but usually feeding causes more dirty diapers pretty quickly, so 50% of the time we need to change him again before bed.
We make sure he is sleeping in only a onesie. No socks or long sleeves, as I feel like that would be hot with the sleep sack, as well. This is probably more a preference. I run hot and I feel like my baby does, too!
If he seems awake after the diaper changing, we might feed for 5 more minutes.
Then we put him in the bassinet and close the door behind us.
Usually he falls right asleep, with minimal fussing. He stays asleep until 5:00 am. He may stir occasionally, like when we come into the room to get ready for bed. But for the most part, he does great! As I said, at two months, I think he is ready to sleep in his own crib very soon, considering WE might be the ones disturbing his sleep :)
All of our sleep routine can be done ANYWHERE. We have already traveled with the baby to Michigan, Ohio, and Puerto Rico in his first 10 weeks of life. I am including our travel swaps below.
Happy shopping!
Happiest Baby Sleep Sack
Ok, we did the swaddle thing for the first few weeks. But eventually, he started wiggling his little arms out so often that he was waking himself up. My husband read the reviews for this Happiest Baby sleep sack and we were sold. It is SO much easier to put him in this at night. I highly recommend this. Even better, they have different sizes and I think he is almost ready for the next size up!
Hatch Baby Rest
I love this sound machine + night light combo! We have it on the nightstand right next to my bed / his bassinet. Again, this will go into his nursery as we transition. You can control everything from your phone - which sound you use, the volume, you can turn it on and off, and change the color of the light. All without disturbing the baby! Pretty cool. I will say, we ONLY use the white noise setting. We put it on while I do his last feeding and we don’t turn it off until 7:00 - 7:30 am when he wakes up. I have never used a sound machine before, but I swear I am getting better sleep because of it, too!
Travel Sound Machine
I feel I should mention, this is the sound machine we use when we travel. We find the night light is really only necessary for US to see where we are going, help him with a pacifier if he wakes up. So it is not necessary to travel with the Hatch Baby (it is a little bit big for travel). I really like this Rohm sound machine. It holds a charge if we are in the airport or the car (although, those spaces have their own natural white noise that puts him to sleep just fine). The volume goes loud and it has a few different sounds. Again, we strictly use the white noise. I actually use this sound machine up in his nursery right now for naps! So I am not moving the Hatch Baby back and forth.
Owlet Sock & Monitor
We put the Owlet sock on him after he eats, when we do the diaper change. I really loved this for the first few weeks, when I was constantly checking on him to make sure he was OK! Instead of bursting into the bedroom to spy on him, I could pull up my Owlet app and look at his oxygen levels and feel 100% better. We actually have the monitor set up in his nursery, so I am using the camera during nap time and the sock monitoring during bedtime.
A few tips:
The sock can be used ANYWHERE, as long as you have WiFi. So we have brought this with us traveling to Michigan, Ohio, and Puerto Rico. It’s great.
The Owlet comes with different size socks. The newborn size did not fit our baby right away. If this happens, just put a regular sock ON TOP of the Owlet sock and it will stay on. Of course, after a few weeks - or maybe days - your baby will grow into the sock.
The Owlet system is HSA/FSA approved. I used my HSA account which paid for 100% of it. The camera + sock system runs anywhere from $300 - $400. So do yourself a favor if you have an HSA account and see if it is covered. It’s worth it!
UPPABaby Bassinet
I’ve mentioned this in a previous post (check out my Newborn Checklist: The First Two Weeks), but we never intended to use the UPPABaby bassinet as our every night sleep solution. We only planned to use it with the stroller and when traveling. But it worked so well and the baby liked it so - we are using it every night!
The best part? If you want to try using this bassinet for every night sleeping, then you can save money by not purchasing a whole other sleeping contraption. You’ll just have the UPPABaby stroller + Bassinet + Bassinet Stand and be set for day AND night AND travel. Pretty amazing! Until the baby transitions to sleeping in his crib at night, this has been working wonderfully.
UPPABaby Bassinet Stand
You’ll need somewhere to put the bassinet, so it is not on the floor. Originally, we had registered for the bassinet stand thinking we would use it at Grandma’s house, for road trips, hotel sleeping, anywhere that we weren’t flying to… But we realized the stand is quite bulky to travel with.
We use the bassinet stand every night next to our bed. But when we travel, we just bring the bassinet (and the stroller, of course). In Puerto Rico, we kept the bassinet on the stroller base so it was off of the ground while he slept. At my parent’s house in Ohio, we put the bassinet on a dresser. It all depends on the situation and what you feel comfortable with. It is also fine on the floor, but I just like him to be at bed-height.
We have the grey bassinet stand, as I think it goes really well with the black - Jake - color bassinet. They also make a white/cream color and a brown/espresso color. Depending on your bassinet color, there are lots of combinations that would look great!
